Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127987
(Opposite page) Jeremy McGrath recorded his fifth victory of the season and the sixth straight at the Minneapolis Metrodome. He has never lost there. (Right) Larry Ward (7) finished just a few bike lengths ahead of Mike laRocco (3) to take second. (Below) With his runnerup performance at the Metrodome, Ward moved into third in the series points. both Brian Stone and Jason Frenette rode around him uncontested, An exhausted Eickel faded back in the pack, while Stone and Frenette chased each other to the end. Stone held on for a close win over Frenette, while Ted Campbell finished a few bike lengths back in third, one spot out of a transfer, MAIN EVENT respectively, but both riders had to go to the semis, SEMIS Huffman was in a class all his own in the first semi, The only factory team rider 'in the race opened up a huge lead and recorded an uneventful victory, but the scrap for second and third between Lawrence and local favorite Voss was anything but uneventful, Lawrence held down second for most of the race until Voss executed a crowd-pleasing pass that took nearly a full 'Straightaway to complete. From there, Voss held Lawrence back the rest of the race to finish second. Kawasaki of Missouri's Doug Stone ran a distant fourth the whole race, while KTM rider Kelly Smith took fifth, With Ward, Lamson and Ferry, among others, on the line, the second semi promised to be a eroser race, As expected, those three riders broke free from the pack, with Ward leading the way, followed by Lamson and Ferry, As the race progressed, Ferry dropped off the pace slightly, leaving Ward and Lamson to decide it between themselves, They went at it down to the wire, with Ward barely hanging on for the win, while Ferry rolled across the finish line in third, Back in fourth and fifth, Roy and Grayson Goodman mixed it up all race long, with Roy coming out on top of that battle via a last-lap pass on the Texan. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Kawasaki rider James Eickel, who had not raced since last summer, grabbed the holeshot in the LCQ but, after already having ridden two heat races, he just ran out of steam by the second lap, when In the 20-lap main event, Carmichael won the race to the first tum, but before , he knew it, Reynard alld McGrath had overtaken the Kawasaki rider, Then, in the blink of an eye, McGrath was sudden.ly ahead of Reynard, "1 got a conservative start," McGrath said of the hectic first lap. "1 thought I had the holeshot, going in good, but I went in a little wide - Reynard got on the inside of me - and 1 came out about fourth. But I made quick work of those guys, Before I even knew H, I was in front. It was kind of weird. I was just going on instinct and it worked out good." Moments later, while fighting for position with Ward.in about fifth, Lusk went down in a turn, along with Ferry. "Everybody was dicing for positions, and me and Larry (Ward) came into the corner together," Lusk said, "We clipped handlebars and I fell over," "He (Lusk) is probably going to say I took him ou t, but I promise I don't think I touched hirn," Ward said. . Lusk found himself in an awkward posi tion, his bike coming to rest on the upside of a jump, alld it took many seconds for him to finally get his bike started and going again, As 'a result, the entire pack rode past him. "This track was so fast tonight, it's hard to make up time, so it was pretty much over for me at the time," said Lusk, who would go on to salvage a ninth-place finish. Meanwhile; the first lap was finally completed, with McGrath already having carved out a substantial lead over Carmichael, Reynard, Ward, LaRocco, Albertyn, Tortelli, Pichon (whose progress was momentarily stalled when he got stuck in the starting gate), Huffman and Lawrence, Carmichael eventually went down on . '" '" '" ~ 19